Phoenix Typewriter Roundup
Recently, I had the pleasure of representing our Type Writer Society while attending the Phoenix Typewriter Roundup at First Draft Book Bar, located in Changing Hands Bookstore in downtown Phoenix.
To give you a taste of the event, check out this time-lapse video, courtesy of our friend, Ted Munk.
With me came a Hermes Rocket, as well as a Smith-Corona Silent featuring vertical script typeface. Both machines were well received.
Phoenix-area folks brought an assortment of machines, as did Texans Susan and Ron Kelsey. Their collection included a gorgeous Groma Kolibri and the ever-massive Hermes Ambassador, whom they aptly refer to as Andre the Giant. The latter was accompanied by color-coordinated writing accessories matching the machine’s light-green hue, along with an impressively-intricate document holder mechanism.
Ron’s Groma Kolibri was new to his collection and his infatuation was obvious!
I was pleased to see Jeremiah and his Olivetti Lettera 32, who just a few years ago as a teenager, coordinated a series of Type-In events at a local library. It’s fantastic seeing young people so enthusiastic with these seemingly archaic machines. Typewriters are being rediscovered for their creative potential.
Event coordination and preparation by Ted Munk and Brian Goode was quite impressive — including kits and name tags for each attendee, name tents for each machine, spare pens, and other accessories.
Brian is a well-seasoned typewriter aficionado who sports a colorful collection of machines. Ted plays a vital role in the online typewriter world (aka typosphere) with both the Typewriter Database and reprints of legacy typewriter maintenance manuals.
Meeting Danielle Williams — an avid typewriter enthusiast, journalist, and teacher who used typewriters in the classroom as a means of facilitating creative expression — was quite the highlight. To me, she represents the future of the typewriter movement, as we evolve from archaic collectible mechanical antiques to more useful and relevant creative tools for the 21st century.
Also in attendance were three professional repairmen: Bill Wahl of Mesa Typewriter Exchange (AZ), Bob Marshall of Typewriter Muse (CA), and Darwin Raymond of Raymond Office Machines and Supplies (CO) who flew his light plane in just for the occasion.
While I manage some degree of complexity in typewriter maintenance, I also believe in supporting the professional repair shops, because they are critical in keeping our machines running well into the future. So it’s no wonder why I was eager to see Bob who brought along my Corona 3, complete with a newly-recovered platen to be reunited with a newly-restored case by Bob.
Here’s my Corona 3, reunited with its case. An instant head-turner!
I had a fascinating discussion with a lady, born in Germany, who brought her German-keyboard Olympia SM9 — the very machine she’d used for years in the German consulate in Houston, TX. Once the consulate relocated and swapped out typewriters for computers, she acquired it as her own. I’m always interested to hear firsthand accounts of how people have used typewriters in a professional capacity.
Like my Corona 3 with its case, I reunited with teacher Ryan Adney, who achieved national acclaim some years ago by bringing typewriters into the classroom. Ryan now teaches photography and is still an avid typewriter aficionado.
Amongst the more unusual machines at the event was an SCM (Smith-Corona Marchant) Music Writer sporting musical-notation symbols, enabling sheet music to be directly created onto paper.
I also met with Gregory Short, the creator of Type Pals and the Type Club Live, which streams on alternating Sunday mornings.
First Draft Book Bar is ideal for these events. Combining a bookstore with beer, wine, an espresso bar, and a large meeting room? I can’t imagine a better venue for the typewriter enthusiast. Add to that the Phoenix-area typewriter community and you have the makings of an affair you dare not miss.
Stay tuned for the next Phoenix-area typewriter event.
-Joe and the ABQwerty Type Writer Society